Rahul & Sonia Gandhi’s tax files to be reopened

New Delhi, September 10: Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi today failed to get any relief from the Delhi High Court, which dismissed their challenge on reopening of their tax assessments for 2011-12.

The rejection of the pleas of the top Congress leaders, including Oscar Fernandes, will pave the way for the Income Tax Department to scrutinise their records for the assessment year 2011-12.

The “writ petitions have to fail”, a Bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and AK Chawla, said.

The income-tax probe has arisen from the investigation into the private criminal complaint by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy before a trial court in connection with the National Herald case. A tax evasion petition was also addressed to the Finance Minister by Swamy.

In the complaint before the trial court, Sonia, Rahul and others have been accused of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by paying just Rs 50 lakh, through which Young Indian (YI), a not-for-profit organisation, had obtained the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) owed to the Congress.

It was alleged that YI, which was incorporated in November 2010 with a capital of Rs 50 lakh, had acquired almost all shareholdings of the AJL, which was running the National Herald newspaper. In this process, YI had acquired AJL’s debt of Rs 90 crore.

The tax department had said the shares Rahul has in YI would lead him to have an income of Rs 154 crore and not about Rs 68 lakh, as was assessed earlier. It has already issued a demand notice for Rs 249.15 crore to YI for 2011-12.

The department’s move followed its probe on a complaint alleging that the Gandhis had misappropriated AJL’s assets while transferring their shares to the newly formed YI.